4. Ergonomics, Continued

The picture on the left shows the correct way to use the mouse; thumb on top of the joystick. In the picture on the right my thumb has slipped into the space below the joystick where it is impossible to move the joystick in any direction but up.

The UX180P keyboard is nicely designed. The keys have a nice PDA-like snap to them and the keyboard lights up as soon as you press a key. Some will find the small keys on the keyboard difficult to use. These are some of the same people who have trouble with small PDA keys. These people should avoid the UX180P like the plague. They will never be happy trying to type on the built-in keyboard. The UX180P's keys are quite a bit larger than those on most PDAs.

The Sony VAIO micro PC is stylus capable. The telescoping stylus fits nicely into a hole on the back of the case. The display is touch-sensitive, but it is not designed to work with magnetically tipped styli such as those used with Windows XP Tablet PCs. So don't expect to hover over a spot on the display to invoke tool tips. Also, there is no handwriting input capability or on-screen keyboard. So the stylus works great for moving around the screen, starting up programs and browsing the Internet. But as soon as you need to type something you have to use the built-in keyboard.

The good news is that you can hook up an external keyboard any time using the UX180P's USB port or one of the three additional USB ports on the port replicator. With a dual-port USB adapter you can connect both a keyboard and a mouse to the device's lone USP port. Take a look at the slide show for more on ways to connect keyboards, monitors and just about anything else to the computer.

To see all the connectors on the UX180P and its included port replicator click below.

slide show Sony VAIO UX180P

Finally let's look a bit at temperatures. The VAIO UX180P is one of the coolest running mobile computers I've ever encountered. Running on its battery, the micro PC never gets hotter than body temperature anywhere, keyboard, back, sides vents. You name it. This can, of course be attributed to the unit's components such as its Intel Core Solo ultra low voltage CPU and its memory and even its small but highly functional 1.8" 30 GB 4200 RPM hard disk drive.